Widener Part of Partnership to use Innovative Theater to Help Spur Revitalization
in Chester

The Pennsylvania Humanities Council (PHC) is partnering with Widener University, the
city of Chester and Chester Arts Alive! to launch a model civic engagement project
that uses innovative theater techniques to inspire problem solving and to help revitalize
the city.

The initiative, part of the proposed Chester Cultural Corridor Project (C3), is being
funded by a $72,000 Discovery Grant from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. The grant
will enable PHC to bring nationally-known theater artists Bob Leonard and Jon Catherwood-Ginn
from Virginia Tech University to work with Chester Arts Alive! They will use grassroots
interactive theater to expand community engagement with Chester business owners, seniors,
youth, artists and preservationists and Widener.

C3 is a proposed one-mile arts and culture district that extends from Widener to Chester's
central business district. Central to the project is an innovative vision that will
integrate design, economic development, civic engagement and the arts to bring diverse
people together to be inspired by arts and humanities.

"We are thrilled that the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is supporting PHC's plan
to work with the C3 partners and national theater experts to engage diverse groups
of Chester residents in revitalization decision-making through the use of the humanities
and community conversations," said Laurie Zierer, PHC executive director.

Widener will collaborate with the Animating Democracy, a program of Americans for
the Arts, to study the impact of the initiative. Dr. Stephen Kauffman, an associate
professor in the Center for Social Work Education at Widener, will devise data collection
instruments and research protocols, identify and coordinate mechanisms and people
for collecting and analyzing data, train and monitor students and community members
in data collection, lead data analysis, and participate in debriefing and review and
comment on findings report.

According to Marcine Pickron-Davis, chief community engagement and diversity officer
at Widener, the university will also coordinate focus groups with Widener students,
faculty and staff to participate in the planning process for the design of C3.

"I am pleased that this vision will be developed for the community, by the community,"
Pickron-Davis said. "This project indeed represents a collaborative effort that will
engage key constituents and stakeholders in an inclusive planning process."